Symposium

Tuesday, January 28, 2014

UN Security Council Authorizes EU Troops To C. Africa Republic

An Air-France plane taxis past a refugee camp
outside the airport in Bangui, Central African Republic, Tuesday Jan.
28, 2014. Christian refugees are living in makeshift shelters near the
airport in Bangui, as they try to escape from the deepening divisions
between the country's Muslim minority and Christian majority. Christian
refugees who have fled sectarian violence complain about the lack of
aid reaching their impoverished tent city.Image: Jerome Delay/AP

UNITED NATIONS — CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC. (AP) The U.N.
Security Council on Tuesday unanimously authorized the deployment of a
European Union force to the Central African Republic to bolster French
and African troops who are trying to quell sectarian violence that the
United Nations has warned could escalate into genocide.

The
council also approved financial sanctions against individuals who have
committed human rights abuses, threaten peace and a political transition
process and violate an arms embargo imposed earlier on the country.

French
Ambassador Gerard Araud said the EU troops will be deployed to guard
the airport in the capital, Bangui, where 100,000 people have taken
refuge, mostly living on the tarmac. Araud said that will free up French
troops to move beyond the airport and take up security operations in
Bangui and beyond.

The EU mission likely will comprise 500 to 600
troops. It remains unclear which countries will contribute. Thomas
Mayr-Harting, the head of the EU delegation to the United Nations, said
the EU forces would be on the ground in CAR within weeks but could not
provide a specific timeframe.
"We are starting to stabilize the
situation, but it's still very fragile," Araud said. "We really need the
arrival of the European forces."

France has sent 1,600 troops to
bolster some 4,600 overwhelmed African peacekeepers, but few have
reached the hot spots farther north.

More than 1,000 people have
been killed and nearly 1 million forced from their homes since December
in violence pitting Christians and Muslims, militias and civilians.

The
mostly Muslim rebels, known as Seleka, came from the country's far
north in March 2013 to overthrow the president. The situation has
stabilized somewhat since rebel-turned-president Michel Djotodia
surrendered power amid mounting international condemnation of his
inability to stop sectarian bloodshed. A new interim civilian government
has pledged to halt the violence and attempt to organize elections by
February 2015.

On Tuesday, thousands of jubilant residents took to
the streets of Bangui to celebrate after peacekeepers escorted dozens
more rebels from military bases. But sectarian tensions remain high, and
the U.N. has warned that the exodus of the Seleka has left Muslim
civilians vulnerable to retaliatory attacks by Christian militiamen.

EU
foreign ministers approved the deployment of a joint military force to
CAR last week. The Security Council approved the mission for an initial
mandate of six months and authorized it to use force.

Araud said
he believes a U.N. peacekeeping mission must eventually be sent to the
Central Africa Republic. He said the U.N. officials estimate that 10,000
troops are need to secure the vast country, and he said only the United
Nations can provide the expertise and resource to help rebuild the
government.

"There is no state left in the Central African
Republic and we will need a very strong civilian component to rebuild
the state," he said.

The Security Council resolution also orders
all member states to freeze all funds, financial assets and economic
resources that are owned or controlled by individuals who violate the
arms embargo, commit abuses from rape to child soldier recruitment and
undermine peace and stability.

It also threatens sanctions against
those who obstruct the delivery of humanitarian assistance. On Monday, a
World Food Program convoy escorted by African peacekeepers confronted
frequent improvised checkpoints set up by armed groups during its
journey from the Cameroon border to Bangui. The WFP said 41 food trucks
are stranded at the Cameroonian border and more escorts are needed.

U.S.
Ambassador Samantha Power, who visited the Central African Republic in
December, applauded the approval of the sanctions and the EU force,
which she said "is urgently needed on the ground."

"The situation
in the Central African Republic is dangerous and it is deadly," she said
in a statement. She added that "those who have fled their homes, who
have seen their loved ones murdered, and who are in dire need of food
and shelter - need to see that political spoilers and instigators of
atrocities will be held to account."

Araud said France will submit
to a Security Council committee a list of individuals who should be
subjected to sanctions. The resolution said those targeted could include
"political figures" who have provided direction to both anti-Christian
and anti-Muslim groups planning violence against civilians. The
sanctions will be in place for an initial period of a year.

FROM THE ARCHIVES: THE AMBROSE EHIRIM-CHIKA UNIGWE INTERVIEW

Every writer has to be able to live in the head of her characters. I had to make myself a blank blackboard for the characters to inscribe their lives on me. I had to wipe off that board every time a new character had to be created and totally surrender myself to that new character.

FROM THE ARCHIVES: INTERVIEW: THE SYLVESTER MENSAH STORY

The idea of writing a book had always engaged my thoughts based on reflections and the desire to share my experiences. The motivation was however triggered after reading the book of a gentleman l consider the busiest in Ghana, H. E. John Dramani Mahama

FROM THE ARCHIVES: INTERVIEW: DR. APOLLOS NWAUWA

Contrary to what many think, the Igbo Diaspora is not really a homogenous, coherent group. Like other ethnic nationalities in the USA, the Igbo Diaspora consists of peoples from all walks of life separated by everything and only united by the fact that they are all Igbo. Serious social class disparity exists between them; therefore, presenting a united front in influencing or engineering actions at home continues to be a challenge.

FROM THE ARCHIVES: INTERVIEW: OZO'S KENI SAINT GEORGE

It was indeed a very boisterous, purpose driven, well-to-do Royal family. I come from a lineage of Royals and a well groomed family unit. My Father, Chief George Ozuloke, was a Court Judge for all of 18 years. He was both a Christian and Animist. He had 7 wives of which my mother was the first. I went to St. Martins Primary School and later to a wonderful School – Abbot Secondary Grammar School in Ihiala, my town. I even did a stint in Ihiala Seminary trying to be a Catholic Priest

FROM THE ARCHIVES: INTERVIEW: JULIUS KPADUWA

The problems that confront Imo State are really not unique. It is the same problem that confronts almost every state in Nigeria, and it's one of economic development. The primary thing or my clear vision for the people of Imo State will be getting all the able-bodied men and women back to work, so that we can begin to have the quality of life that has so far eluded the people of Imo State.

FROM THE ARCHIVES: THE OTOKOTO SAGA INTERVIEW

Earlier this year, in January, it was reported in the country’s dailies that your father and six others had been condemned to death. Those condemned with your father were: Alban Ajaegbu, Sampson Nnamito, Ebenezer Egwuekwe, Rufus Anyanwu, Lawrence Eboh, and Chief Leonard Unogu. How is your dad related to the names I have mentioned?

FROM THE ARCHIVES: Where We Met

But seeing a Nigeria headline on my screen it then occurred to him I must either be a Nigerian or perhaps a curious minded fellow who is reading to find out about the notorious Boko Haram, if they have captured more of their victims, or if there's an ongoing battle between the insurgents and the nation's security forces. Elevating my head up and starring at each other, I told him I was Igbo

NIGERIAN NEWSPAPERS

Search This Blog

About Me

Ambrose Ehirim is a blogger, a writer, a photo-journalist, a volunteer and teacher. He has published articles and essays in African Times, African Watch, Pace News, Los Angeles Weekly, Life & Time Magazine, Kilima, American Chronicle, Long Beach Sentinel, Reuters and many other publications. He was former editor of New Life and West Coast Bureau Chief at the BNW Magazine. An Anti-Igbo Pogrom scholar and researcher, and currently working on and researching the 'Eastside Groups and Bands' Vintage Years.'

Sovereign National Conference: A Symposium

Aburi Accord Plays On

Click On Image To Read Full Story

2015: Leadership and Sins of Nd'Igbo

Click on image to read full story and analysis

Nchamere Nd'Igbo: Evidence of Anti-Igbo Pogrom

Obafemi Awolowo's orchestrated "Economic Blockade" denies food and medicine to Children of Biafra during Yakubu Gowon's-led genocidal campaign against the Igbo Nation. CLICK ON IMAGE TO VIEW ALL PICTURES

West African Documentary

The building of a tata. The mason tended by his apprentice, builds the tata, layer by layer. The apprentice shapes the balls of mud which he passes to the mason....Click on the image to view all pictures and related stories

Facts and Logic Blogs

Twitter Updates

Inside Nigeria's Fourth Republic: Nothing But A Messy 14 Years

In the fourteen years of said democracy, things that never happened in the past - the way it had now turned out - started happening at an alarming rate and spooky by its nature.......Click on image to read full story

Google+ Followers

California gasoline prices set to plunge as spike ends

Click on image to read story

The Future of the Alien Tort Statute, Take II: The U.S. Supreme Court Hears New Arguments on Extrat

Translate

Blog Archive

Labels

Total Pageviews

Trump Lawyer Arranged $130,000 Payment for Adult-Film Star

Nigerian couple meet on Facebook and marry one week later

CNN

2nd Annual African Day Fest In Little Rock, Arkansas

Photo by Thomas Metthe Denisha Cleaves (right) of Memphis and Shakeenah Kadem of Fort Smith perform Saturday during the second annual Africa Day Fest in Little Rock. More photos are available at arkansasonline.com/galleries.

The Small Island Paradise

People enjoy a New Year’s day swim in São Tomé city on Jan. 1, 2018. Tourists to São Tomé and Principe, a scattering of islands off the coast of western equatorial Africa that once served the slave and sugar trades of Portuguese colonial rulers, are rare. Image: Ruth McDowall/AFP/Getty

A Night Of Music And Dance

(AFRICA DIASPORA)--Rhythms of Kalahari, a dance troupe from Bostwana, perform a traditional celebration dance at the African Students Association Banquet in the Student Union Theater, Missouri State University, Springfield, April 20, 2018 in a Night of Music and Dance. Image: Bradley Balsters, The Standard

Battle to save elephants in Africa gaining some ground

In this photo taken Friday, March 23, 2018, wildlife veterinarian Ernest Mjingo, center, runs as an elephant starts to charge toward him after being darted with a tranquilizer during an operation to attach GPS tracking collars, near Mikumi National Park, Tanzania. The battle to save Africa’s elephants appears to be gaining momentum in Mikumi, where killings are declining and some populations are starting to grow again. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)